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The failure of Metro to immediately report a minor crash last weekend, particularly in the wake of a spate of recent accidents, is "disconcerting," said the head of a public transit advocacy group in the Washington area.

A mover traveling through a tunnel at 5 mph and carrying 20 contract workers hit an icy stretch of tracks, was unable to stop and crashed into a line of trucks equipped to travel on the tracks, said Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel. No one was injured in the crash, which occurred at about 8:35 p.m. Saturday between the Grosvenor-Strathmore and Medical Center Metro stations along the Red Line in Montgomery County.

The crash was not reported to Metro's oversight board, and Metro officials will be discussing the accident notification procedure with the board, Taubenkibel said.

The fact that no one was injured shows that the safety precautions taken by the workers, such as traveling at a low speed and sounding the warning horn, were successful, said Ben Ross, president of the public transit advocacy group Action Committee for Transit, based in Silver Spring.

"My concern is people will overreact to this incident," said Ross, who said he was speaking for himself and not for his organization.

But, in the wake of the Jan. 26 fatal incident involving two Metro workers, Metro should have immediately notified the Metro board and the National Transportation Safety Board investigating the earlier crash of the latest event, Ross said.

"That is more disconcerting to me because it shows a lack of communication all around," Ross said.

As a subway rider, Ross said he is more concerned in the wake of the fatal incident involving the workers than he is about a June 22 crash that killed nine, including eight passengers, because the workplace fatalities show "systemic" problems with Metro.

"This has been a very challenging several months with an unfortunate string of incidents that has broken the hearts of many here," Taubenkibel said.